Wells are created in the earth's surface as part of the exploration and acquisition of petroleum oil hydrocarbons, natural gas, water, and the like. An oil or gas operator will typically create a well by drilling a hole into the earth (e.g., with a drilling rig that rotates a drill string with an attached bit) to at least a depth or location adjacent or near a reservoir or other subterranean feature (e.g., porous rocks) from which substances are to be explored and/or extracted. After the hole is drilled, sections of steel pipe (e.g., “casing”) that are slightly smaller in diameter than the borehole (e.g., “wellbore”) are placed in the hole. Cement or other compounds may be placed between the outside of the casing and the borehole. The casing provides structural integrity to the newly drilled wellbore, in addition to isolating potentially dangerous high pressure zones from each other and from the surface.
After drilling and casing has been completed, the well may be “completed” or otherwise enabled to produce oil or gas. Completion initially includes creating perforations (e.g., small holes) in the casing via explosive charges which allow oil or gas to pass from the reservoir or other subterranean feature into the production tubing. The explosive charges are conveyed to the intended region of the well, such as an underground strata containing hydrocarbon, by a perforating gun or perforation gun system (e.g., “gun systems,” or “gun string”). For instance, a perforating gun typically consists of a barrel along with a structure holding a number of charges that may be loaded into the barrel. The perforating gun is typically conveyed through the cased wellbore by means of coiled tubing (e.g., tubing conveyed perforation or TCP), wireline (e.g., slickline), or other devices, depending on the application and service company recommendations. Completion may also include pumping acids and fracturing fluids into the well to fracture, clean, or otherwise prepare and stimulate the reservoir rock to optimally produce hydrocarbons into the wellbore and/or packing off the area above the reservoir section inside the casing and connecting this section to the surface via a smaller diameter pipe called tubing. After the completion stage, oil and gas may be produced from the well.